Blackbraid – Blackbraid II
Release Date: 7th July 2023
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Blackened Thrash, Folk, Indigenous Black Metal.
FFO: Panopticon, Nechochwen, Agalloch, Mgła, Wolves in the Throne Room.
Review By: Rick Farley
The highly anticipated sophomore release from American black metal band Blackbraid is upon us. 2022 brought us an out of nowhere contender for album of the year with the critically acclaimed release of Blackbraid I, an indigenous black metal project born from the depths of the Adirondack wilderness from its sole creator Sgah’gahsowàh. A Native American that intertwined nuances of his culture and his home into fierce, atmospheric black metal. There’s an amazing sense of place felt, evoking the natural spirituality of his environment within the churning but sometimes majestic ambience. The music was as raw and powerful as the mountains from whence it came. Blackbraid II picks up where its predecessor left off. That’s not to say that it’s in any way just a rehashing. Blackbraid II is, in every way, an improvement on its sound. More in depth, with a better balance of wistful melody, intensity, and extreme ferocity. Once again the songwriting is impeccable, shining with elements of Native American influenced subtlety, in the form of acoustic passages, serene harmonies, and instrumentation interjected into vehement second wave tinged black metal that could very well be the sound of a seething black bear clacking his teeth as he drags your lifeless body down the mountainside heading towards the murky waters of the blackened river.
The Wolf that Guides the Hunters Hand infuses NWOBHM infused guitar melodies with bestial black metal. Fiercely aggressive and chaotic, this track rips and shreds through violent spasms of complex drum patterns and insanely fast double bass. The percussion from session drummer/producer Neil Schneider who handles the albums skins, hammer and punch you with finesse, power, and hellacious hooks. The rapid tremolo picking is icy and jagged with a sense of real suffocating urgency to them. A little more than halfway through the epic seven minutes, the guitars shift effortlessly towards a doomy, old style heavy metal groove that’s built for headbanging. A wicked tapping guitar solo, sharply cuts through the riffs, creating stinging tension before the music drifts off to the end. Sgah’gahsowàh’s guitar work is grimy, embodying the raw essence of black metal riffing while still maintaining skilled musicianship.
The thirteen-minute opus, Moss Covered Bones on the Altar of the Moon, traverses moods and energies that wash over you throughout this absorbing beast. The meditative bliss of the dark melodies create a swaying motion that feels involuntary. You can feel it deep in your flesh like a spiritual immersion, the promise of more aggression and power lingering in the background. Sgah’gahsowàh’s vocals are nasty, and mid pitched, occasionally hitting with demon like guttural inflections. Galloping bass in the vein of Steve Harris rolls underneath the airy distorted guitars, only to build into a flurry of crisp intensity of blistering pace and aggression. The guitars and drums quicken, twisting and turning through an extremely terrifying but evocative journey. One that I will be glad to take over and over.
Blackbraid II comes in at close to sixty-five minutes, which is nearly double the runtime of the first album. With three instrumental interludes and a magnificent but not necessary cover of Bathory’s A Fine Day to Die, a case could be made for a littletime editing, which is in no way a reflection on the quality of the music here. This is all well composed, highly precise, songwriting that should be heard by everyone with any interest in black metal. However, the runtime could be an issue for some listeners. Me personally, I’m all in. This is an unforgiving primal atmosphere meshed with moments of serenity, folky beauty and spiritual peace. Blackbraid II doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it surely freshens it up and sets the bar exceedingly high for any oncoming black metal records. Don’t mistake the hype for Blackbraid as them being groundbreaking, the core of this is pure second wave splendour with a penchant for incredible compositions. Check this out.
(5 / 5)
